It was a really long time ago when I met Ansley J. Coale Jr. of GERMAIN-ROBIN, California alambic brandies back in 1988! I met him at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits where I worked at the time with quite a cast of interesting people ( Sidney Moore and Michael Downey, Iris ( our cashier ), Leon ( our " other " cashier ), Karen our book-keeper, Moe our liquor-buyer, Larry Jennings our stock and delivery person and many more ). Those were some grand days. I sure learned a whole lot about Italian wines back then as we imported them in containers directly with the help of Sidney's parents whom have since passed away : Aaaron and Helen Millman. I also learned about alambic California brandies it seems. I have a letter typed and signed by Ansley back on May 21st, 1988.
In Ansley's letter to me after our first meeting at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits Ansley ( president of ALAMBIC, INC. Eagle Rock Ranch, Mendocino County, 707- 462-3221 P.O. Box 175, Ukiah CA. 95482 ). Ansley writes : " It was nice to have the chance to meet you and give you a taste of the new release. I am enclosing the 100 summit dinner sheets that you asked for, along with some of our other material, including the technical information that we provide to our sales people. Good luck with your moving. Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. "Regards, Ansley J. Coale Jr. He signed it simply Ansley. I wish that I had taken some pictures at the time. I was not very good at that then. I guess I was too self-absorbed or simply did not realize the value and joy of a picture years down the line. Oh well, c'est la vie !
In looking at Ansley's typed letter I realize that I was at Burka's Fine Wines managing the wine department when I met Ansley and not at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits. I guess memories and details do tend to fade. I liked very much what Ansley brought us and we started to sell his alambic brandies then and there. At that point I think there were just two or three, no more.
Ansley started in the early 1980's this whole project which has grown and become an amazing success story. It was nice to be at the beginning of this fascinating story. Ansley met his partner Hubert and Hubert's wife when he picked them up hitchhiking through California. Ansley is a former professor of classics at Berkley that turned to a sheep farmer. The rest is history after this quite serendipitous meeting of theirs.
At Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits at 3425 Connecticut Avenue, NW, DC ( 202-363-4265 )where I now manage the wine department twenty years later after meeting Ansley I still enjoy selling and recommending his alamabic California brandies made with an authentic French still with a long neck to produce a smoother result. We have Ansley's Select Barrel XO and sometimes the FINE, and the CIGAR BLEND. We can always get the others, too : the SHAREHOLDERS' BLEND, the SINGLE-BARREL BRANDIES and the GRAPPA OF ZINFANDEL
The reason I bring all this up along with rep Jacqueline Milburn is that along with the AQUA PERFECTA and the HANGAR ONE VODKA she also represents the GERMAIN-ROBIN BRANDIES. When I first met her several years ago ( perhaps 2002 or so ? ) she was showing us the GERMAIN-ROBIN portfolio of impressive small, hand-crafted alambic brandies. I told her then my story about meeting Ansley years before.
On this visit in 2008 with rep Jody Jackman of Winebow imports Jacqueline was bringing us a taste of the " new " wormwood CA. absinthe ( made by SAINT GEORGE, producing brandy and malt whiskey ) go for more technical information to : www.craftdistillers.com or jacqueline@craftdistillers.com ) to taste along with two raspberry and pear-flavored eaux-de-vie and liqueurs - four in all. Impressive. We already had the CA. absinthe on the shelf to sell and so when Jody came shortly after to do an in-store wine-tasting with our customers we had her sample three of these four pear and raspberry products : they all sold extremely well, especially the liqueurs which are easier to taste, less bite and steel on the palate and thus for most people easier to understand and appreciate. We still have some of all in the store now ( I am writing this on Monday, September 15th, 2008 my day-off at home ).
Here are the pictures that I took of that tasting beforehand with just Jacqueline, Jody, Mike Martin, Ravinder Sharma and myself in the store.
I liked the absinthe and for it's high price ( in the 70's, dollars that is ) I really enjoyed it and it's smooth, intriguing flavors of herbs and licorice and whatever else ). It looked beautiful in the glass with the ice cubes and was fun to sip slowly and try and figure out exactly what the flavors were that you were tasting?!? Cheers, TONY
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